Application of cellulose ethers to textiles



stiffening or adhesive effects.

Commercial hydroxy ethyl cellulose which is Patented. Mar. 25, 1947 Charles F. Goldthwalt, Herbert 0. Smith, and Larry B. Barnes, New Orleans, La., asslgnors to Claude R. Wiekard, as Secretary of Agriculture of the United States of America,

cessors-in ofllce and his suc- No Drawing. Application June 22, 1943,

' Serial No-491,l"l2

40mins. (cum-1385) (Granted under theact of March 3, 1883,-as

This application is made under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended. by the act of April 30, 1928, and the invention herein described, if patented, may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a new and improved method of dissolving and applying cellulose ethers as textile finishes, with particular reference to such textile materials as cotton yarn or fabric. It applies to such ethers or partial ethers as have been made by modifying cellulose to such degrees of substitution as will render the products soluble in cuprammonium solutions but not art of textile finishing.

A number of types of cellulose ethers are known which have been used as textile finishes.

Within certain degrees of etheriflcation some of them are soluble in water and are, therefore, not useful as permanent textile finishes. Within certain other degrees of eth'erification the products are not soluble in water nor in aqueous solutions. Our invention does not refer to these groups of amended April 30, 1928; 370 O. G. 757) sulfuric acid; and possibly finishing with a little sodium carbonate to avoid any possible damage to the textile material from any residual traces of sulfuric acid. For example, see application Serial No. 471,583, filed January 7, 1943, granted as Patent No. 2,352,707.

We have found that cellulose hydroxy ethers the method outlined above. Both the cellulose I hydroxy ether and the copper are rendered insoluble by the drying and remain in the cotton. The cotton is not damaged.

Goods treated by this method have the added advantage that the presence of insoluble copper compoundsrendersthem resistant to mildew and rotting so that the fabric strength is retained products. Between the two extremes just given,

there are modified celluloses of such degrees of etheriflcation as render them soluble in caustic alkali solutions and insoluble again upon removal of this alkali. This last group of ethers may be usable as permanent textile finishes to produce a partial cellulose hydroxy ethyl ether is an example of the last group. This can be made with different degrees of etherification, some of the resulting products being solublelin caustic soda aqueous solutions. One manner of applying this material to textiles involves the preparation of a solution or paste of the cellulose hydroxy eth'yl ether with aqueous caustic soda of about from 6% to 10% concentration; application of the solution or 'paste to a textile material 'by padding or some other known method; treatment of the solution-containing textile with sulfuric acid to neutralize the caustic soda and precipitate the .under' conditions where ordinary cotton would soon become weakened or destroyed through attack by microorganisms.

As a specific example of the use or this process a bleached mosquito netting made from cotton was treated so that it'took up approximately its own weight of a solution containing 3% of comsolutions of the same cellulose ether in the mancellulose ether; washing with water to remove the soluble products of the reaction and excess four weeks.

' ner Labove described.

The added advantage of resistance to mildew and rotting was clearly shown by burying test strips of the original netting, of netting finished by the caustic soda (method, and by our new cuprammonium process. The first two types of material lost practically all of their tensile strength within about two and threevweeks, re-

.lqspectively, while buried in an ordinary outdoor soil, while our special'treated fabric had not lost any of its initial strength after such burial for and '3 It is known that copper compounds have this preservative effect but they have notbeen applied a before in admixture with cellulose hydroxy others to obtain the combined advantages of the modified cellulose finish and mildew and rot resistance.

It will be clear that the invention is not limited by such details as given in the example above. The finish can be' applied through a wide range of cellulose hydroxy ether and copper concentrations to a great variety of fabrics which need not necessarily be made from cotton. It will be most useful where mildew or rot resistance is required,j or because of the greatly simplified method of application. This method of dissolving and applying cellulose hydroxy ether in cuprammonlum can be also used where a modified cellulose finish might be utilized to help make a fabric impermeable to water through the swelling effect of the finish in addition to that of the fiber, as described in the above-mentioned patent application.

Having thus described our invention, we claim: 1. A method of finishing textiles comprising dissolving in an aqueous cuprammonium solution a cellulose hydroiw ethyl ether which is not soluble in water. applying the resulting solution to a textile material, and then drying the textile material.

' 2. A. method of finishing cotton textile materials comprising dissolving in an aqueous cuprammonium solution a cellulose hydroxy ethyl ether which is not soluble in water, applying the resulting solution to a cotton textile material, and then dryin the textile material.

3. A textile material having incorporated therein a dried aqueous solution of cuprammonium and a cellulose hydroxy ethyl ether which is not soluble in water. 4. A cotton textile material having incorporated therein a dried aqueous solution of cuprammonium and a cellulose hydroxy ethyl ether which is not soluble in water.

, CHARLES F. GOLDTHWAIT.

HERBERT 0. SMITH. LARRY n. BARNES.

aEFEnENcEs crrEn The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

- UNITED STATES m OTHER RErRRENcEs Cellulose Ethers, by Worden, page 26, 1933. published by Newark Printing 00., Newark, N. J. 

